Iowa Children’s Choice 2008 – 2009
Friendship According to Humphrey By Betty G. Birney
Accelerated Reader Level: 4.0
After a long winter vacation, Humphrey the hamster can’t wait to see his friends in Room 26 again.
But on the first day back, he gets a big surprise. Room 26 has a new class pet, Og the Frog!
Humphrey can’t wait to be friends with Og, but Og doesn’t seem interested. To make matters
work, the students are so interested in Og that they almost stop paying attention to Humphrey altogether.
Pieces
of Georgia: A Novel by Jennifer Bryant
Accelerated
Reader Level: 5.6
Like her mother,
Georgia McCoy is an artist, but her dad looks away whenever he sees her with a sketchbook. Sometimes it’s
hard to remember what it was like when her mother was still alive… when they were a family… when they were happy.
But then a few days after her 13th birthday, Georgia gets an unexpected gift.
The
Stolen Sapphire: A Samantha Mystery
by Sarah Masters Buckey
Accelerated Reader Level: 5.2
Samantha and Nellie set sail for Europe in 1906.
Also aboard the ship is a world-famous archeologist and the legendary sapphire he is carrying to a London museum.
When his priceless jewel disappears, Samantha realizes that everyone of the first class passengers is a suspect- and
one of them must be the theif!
Do You Know the Monkey Man? By Dori Hillestad Butler
Accelerated Reader Level: 3.8
When Samantha’s
father disappears after a tragic family accident, our heroine doesn’t see or hear from him for ten years, except for
one postcard picturing a monkey from the San Diego Zoo. With this single clue, the search for the truth
and her father begins… and Samanth can finally heal from the emotional trauma.
Victory by Susan Cooper
Accelerated Reader Level: 5.9
Sam Robbins is an 11-year-old ship’s boy, forced from his home in England when he and his uncle ore pressed into
service in His Majesty’s Navy in 1803. Sara Jennings in an 11-year-old girl, forced from her home
in England when her mother remarries and move the family to Connecticut in 2006.
Larry, the
King of Rock and Roll: A Novel by
Iris Rainer Dart and Joyce Brotman
Accelerated Reader Level: 4.5
Did you know dogs can talk? Well, neither did Cathy and her
father Tom, a songwriter struggling with a new tune that is, until their pet dog Larry opened his mouth and helped Tom finish
the song!
Free Baseball by Sue Corbett
Accelerated Reader Level: 4.3
Felix knows his dad was a famous baseball player in Cuba and that his father risked everything to send Felix to America.
When a baseball team with Cuban players comes to town, Felix wonders if they knew his dad. That’s
when the players mistake him for their new batboy. Felix plays along, running away from home to become
the team’s batboy. His bittersweet adventure glows with the friendship of a miraculous dog, the warmth
of a mother’s love, and the magic of baseball.
Saving Grace by Priscilla Cummings
Accelerated Reader Level: 4.9
The McFarland family has been his hard by the Great Depression. When they lose their home just before
Christmas, Grace is sent temporarily to a children’s home. Her stay at the mission is cut short when
she is invited to spend the holidays with the Hammonds. What will happen when it’s time for Grace
to go home? Are family bonds more important then the security the Hammonds offer her? Inspired by a true
story.
The Million Dollar Putt by Dan Gutman
Accelerated Reader Level: 3.8
Edward Bogie Bogard may be blind, but he can learn just about anything he sets his mind to. His
dad encourages all of his interests except one, golf. When a few of his classmates invite him to a driving
range, Bogie turns out to have the swing of a natural player. Now what he needs is a coach.
Enter Birdie, the kooky girl next door. These neighbors team up to conquer the greens for Hawaii
and learn about more than just golf.
Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm
Accelerated Reader Level: 4.0
It’s 1953 and 11-year-old Penny dreams of a summer of butter pecan ice cream, swimming, and baseball.
But nothing’s that easy in Penny’s family. For starters, she can go swimming because
her mother’s afraid she’ll catch polio at the pool. To make matters worse, her favorite uncle
is living in a car. Her Nonny cries every time her father’s name is mentioned…and the two
sides of her family aren’t speaking to each other.
The Sword that Cut the Burning Grass: A Samurai Mystery
by
Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler
Accelerated Reader Level: 5.4
When fourteen-year-old samurai apprentice Seiki is sent on a
mission by the shogun, he believes it to be a simple one: convince the fourteen-year-old emperor to resume is ceremonial duties.
But then the emperor is kidnapped, and Seiki finds himself in the middle of an elaborate plat to overthrow the shogun.
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata
Accelerated Reader Level: 4.8
Twelve-year-old Sumiko feels her life has been made up of two parts: before Pearl Harbor and after it, the good part
and the bad part. Raised on a flower farm in California, Sumiko is used to being the only Japanese girl
in her class. After Pearl Harbor, other Americans start to suspect that all Japanese people are spies for
the emperor. Sumiko and her family find themselves being shipped to an internment camp in one of the hottest
deserts in the United States.
Abduction by Peg Kehret
Accelerated
Reader Level: 4.7
When Matt leaves
his kindergarten class to go to the bathroom he never imagines what will happen next. He suddenly finds
himself in a stranger’s car. But who is this man, and is he really a “stranger”?
When the school bell rings & Matt is nowhere to be found, his sister Bonnie is frantic. She
quickly realizes that her little brother is not lost by missing! And she must do everything in her power
to save him… even if it puts her own life in danger.
Drita, My Homegirl by Jenny Lombard
Accelerated Reader Level: 3.9
Drita and her family come to New York as refugees from war-torn Kosovo. Even though she barely speaks
English, Drita can’t wait to start school & make a new best friend. But her classmates don’t
make it easy, teasing her about virtually everything. The worst is Maxie, a tough African-American girl
whose sassy attitude hides a painful secret.
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Accelerated Reader Level: 3.9
Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life which is nearly impossible when you have a brother with autism and
a family that revolves around his disability. But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a paraplegic boy, and
Kristi, the next door friend she’s always wished for, it’s her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside
down and forces her to ask “What is normal?”
Roxie and the Hooligans by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Accelerated Reader Level: 5.3
Lord Thistlebottom’s Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them has taught Roxie Warbler how to hand all
sorts of situations. If Roxie’s ever lost in the desert, or buried in an avalanche, or caught in
a dust storm, she knows just what to do. But Lord Thistlebottom has no advice to help her deal with Helvetia’s
Hooligans, the meanest bunch of bullies in school.
Taking Care of Moses by Barbara O’Connor
Accelerated
Reader Level: 4.3
Who left the baby
at the Rock of Ages Baptist Church? Randall Mackey has a secret. He knows who left the
baby, but he can’t tell anyone, not even his best friend. While Randall’s busy worrying about
doing the right thing, everyone in town is discussing who should be taking care of the baby, and it isn’t long before
a feud breaks out.
Ophie out of Oz by Kathleen O’Dell
Accelerated Reader Level:
3.6
At her school in California,
fourth-grader Ophie Peeler has it all: starring roles in all the school plays, plenty of attention and of course, the best
friend a girl could ask for. Like Dorothy, Ophie is on the yellow brick road to a glamorous adventure-filled
life. But all of that changes when Ophie and her family move to Oregon, trading in the California sunshine for a dreary, rain-soaked
life. Will Ophie find a way to fit in, or has her one chance at happiness just sailed away over the rainbow?
Archer’s
Quest by Linda Sue Parks
Accelerated
Reader Level: 4.6
Sixth-grader Kevin
is home alone in Dorchester, NY, when an arrow flies through the air, pining his baseball cap to the wall. Imagine
his surprise to find a man claiming to be Kah Chu-mong the Great Archer from a Korean kingdom in the first century B.C.
in his bedroom. Archer claims to have fallen tiger he was riding and has somehow landed in Kevin’s
bedroom.
Singing Hands by Delia Ray
Accelerated Reader Level: 5.9
As one of three hearing daughters of deaf parents, 12 year-old Gussie Davis is expected to be a proper representative
of Saint Jude’s Church for the Deaf in Birmingham, Alabama, which is run by her father. Gussie finally
confronts the difficulties and prejudices encountered by the deaf community, all while still trying to find her own identity
in the world of both the hearing and the deaf.
A Drowned Maiden’s Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz
Accelerated Reader Level: 4.7
A feisty
orphan is taken in by a band of phony spiritualists in this intriguing, engaging novel. Maud Flynn is known
at the orphanage for her impertinence, so when the charming Miss Hyacinth and her sister choose Maud to take home with them,
the girl is as baffled as anyone.
Tadpole by Ruth White
Accelerated Reader Level: 4.9
In rural Kentucky in 1955, Serilda Collins, a single mother of four lively girls, discovers that her orphaned nephew
is being subjected to brutality.
Bartleby of the Big Bad Bayou by Phyllis Shalant
Accelerated Reader
Level: 3.9
Bartleby, the red-eared turtle,
and Seezer, the American alligator, have swum the mighty Mississippi to reach bayou country, their true home.
But when they find the creek where Seezer was born, they discover it’s ruled by Old Stump, a giant gator with
a gargantuan appetite. Does Bartleby have what it takes to make this strange new world his own?
Tiger by Jeff Stone
Accelerated Reader Level: 5.0
Twelve-year-old Fu and
his temple brother Malao, She, Hok, and Long don’t know who their parents were. Raised from infancy by their grandmaster,
they think of the temple as their home and their fellow warriors monks-the “temple brothers”-as their family.
Then one terrible night, the temple is destroyed, Fu and his brothers are the only survivors.
No
Dogs Allowed by Bill Wallace
Accelerated
Reader Level: 3.7
After losing Dandy,
her family’s beloved horse, Kristine decides that she will never get close to another pet again. So
when her father surprises her with a new puppy for her birthday, Kristine is furious! With a new sister on the way, who needs
a wiggly messy, noisy yellow ball of fur to look after? But how can an animal-loving girl resist the sweet
brown eyes of a puppy that just wants to be loved?
